Lite-On IT got its start in 1995 when its parent company, Lite-On Technology, gathered together a group of scientists and engineers to start an optical storage research and manufacturing business. Lite-On Technology quickly established itself as Taiwan’s largest CD-ROM drive manufacturer and by 1999 the business had spun off into a separate company, Lite-On IT. Since then, Lite-On IT has continued to grow. By working closely with companies like BenQ and Philips, they've expanded into the consumer and automotive electronics markets, becoming the world's second largest ODD manufacturer.

While Lite-On has begun to introduce drives based on the Blu-ray Disc format, they haven't abandoned the DVD quite yet. This fall, the company quietly introduced a new 20x DVD writer, the DH-20A3H. Sporting specs very similar to the LH-20A1H and LH-20A1L, the drive is capable of 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD±R DL and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. Along with support for HP's LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling system, the DH-20A3H also features many of the technologies we've come to expect from Lite-On, including more advanced ones like SmartWrite and OverSpeed.

With features and specs like this, the DH-20A3H sounds like it has a lot of potential. To give you an idea of what to expect from Lite-On's new writer, we'll take a look at some of its features and then see how it compares to some of the 20x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does the DH-20A3H have what it takes? Is it the best bang for your buck? Keep reading as we find out.